Twelve OHS journalism students travelled to Dallas, TX for the National High School Journalism Convention on Nov. 17-19 and several of them returned with awards.

Three members of the yearbook staff won awards for their work. Rachel Delgado (12) earned an Excellent award in Yearbook Copy and Captions: Clubs, Kristin Kuchno (11) received an Excellent award for Yearbook Copy and Captions: Academics, and an honorable mention went to Kayleigh Tritschler (11) for Yearbook Copy and Captions: Sports.

“I was really shocked because my competition seemed pretty difficult,” said Delgado. “I wasn’t expecting such a high prestigious award.”

The broadcast program received two awards for their competitions. In the Broadcast News category, Bridget Castello (12) and Melanie Neff (12) earned a superior rating in the Broadcast News category and Louis Luong (12), Max Rodenbeck (12), Caden Turner (11), and Taylor Zapf (12) received an Excellent award for their Broadcast Feature. In addition, broadcast took seventh place for Best of Show.

The newspaper program was recognized as well. Mckenzie Knapp (12) earned an honorable mention for Editorial Writing and Nicole Neher (12) in Feature Writing.

“It’s really nice to be recognized for all of the work I put into my writing,” Knapp said. “I received the same award last year and I’m proud to be honored for the second time.”

Along with students being recognized, journalism advisor Mr. Jeff Kuchno received a Special Recognition Broadcast Adviser honor as part of the NSPA National High School Broadcast Adviser of the Year program.

“I’m more proud of my students than I am about anything that I have accomplished,” said Kuchno. “It’s a privilege to have the opportunity to work with such outstanding young people.”